


Robin Cry, Cry Robin

by clarityhiding



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: (but likely not in the way most people use that tag), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different Powers, Gen, Identity Issues, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, One Shot, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27637025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarityhiding/pseuds/clarityhiding
Summary: When Jack Drake dies, Tim picks the lock on his father's safe and replaces the will with a carefully altered one. Afterwards, he adds a Wayne to his name, moves into the manor, and no one there has any reason at all to ever examine his family tree.
Comments: 30
Kudos: 314





	Robin Cry, Cry Robin

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to bionerd2point0 and chibi_nightowl for the help.
> 
> Commutebrain gifted me with a one shot instead of helping me with my various WIPs.

The first time Tim did it on purpose was while he was still following Batman and Robin. He'd gotten some really excellent shots of Robin silhouetted against a rare clear patch of sky and his mind wasn't on his surroundings. When he turned to go, he found the mouth of the alley blocked by a group of thugs, more than eager to relieve him of his fancy camera.

They were all bigger than him, and armed to boot. There was no point in trying to fight or cry for help. He was cornered, they all knew it, so Tim did what his dad always told him to do if he ever found himself in a situation like that.

He screamed.

Tim didn't stick around to see the fallout, after. Just ran home and hid under the covers on his bed and waited for morning, his heart pounding his chest. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time, something he both did and didn't want to do ever again. In the moment, he swore to himself he was done following heroes, that he'd never do it again.

He was out again a fortnight later, though he now carried a collapsible baton with him, just in case.

* * *

Batman didn't want metas in Gotham, didn't think them fair or sporting. He liked things he could measure, could understand, could predict all the outcomes of.

Tim respected that and, even more importantly, respected Batman. Once he was Robin, he used his hands, his legs, his feet, his mind, his staff—sometimes all of them together. The only time he used his voice was to cajole or taunt or query.

He didn't scream, even when he wanted to. Batman wouldn't like it, wouldn't want a Robin who could do that, and Tim—

Tim needed Robin maybe just as much as Batman did, sometimes.

* * *

When Jack Drake died, Tim picked the lock on his father's safe and replaced the will there with a carefully altered one. He didn't think he was really ready to be Bruce Wayne's son, but he also wasn't ready to stop being Robin, and there were things that would need adjusting if he wanted that to happen.

He was pretty sure his cousin would understand. After all, she'd seen Bruce at the funeral, had shared a long, meaningful look with Tim before ducking out early.

Less than a month later, Tim appended a Wayne to his name, moved into the manor, and no one there had any reason whatsoever to examine his family tree.

* * *

The second time Tim did it on purpose, it was too late to worry about losing Robin, maybe even too late to worry about upsetting Bruce. He didn't have a name anymore, at least not one beyond 'Tim Drake-Wayne,' and he wasn't sure if he even had all of that, now.

What he did have was another thug, another tight situation. No escape, no one to call for help. But he wasn't Robin and he wasn't in Gotham, so Batman's rules didn't apply. And besides all that, it wasn't just his own life on the line this time.

Widower's blades flashed, Z and Owens fell, and Tim screamed.

Riding back to the hotel, after, he glanced at Pru in the passenger seat. She was clutching her side, the wound she received before she could take out the stunned assassin still oozing a slow trickle of blood.

"I'd appreciate it," he said, "if you didn't mention what happened back there to anyone." He didn't say that he meant to Ra's, but then he didn't really think he needed to.

"Don't know why you use that bloody stick with a voice like that," she grumbled.

"Batman doesn't like his people to have anything… abnormal about them."

She snorted and shook her head. "If I was working for someone who didn't appreciate my natural talents for what they were, I'd find a new boss."

"Yeah? And how's that working out for you?" he asked, thinking of her partners they left in a cave miles behind them, victims of a battle they didn't even know they were fighting. He wondered if Ra's even knew any of their names, or if they were all just faceless, disposable lackies to him.

"Found you, didn't I?"

* * *

They returned to Lucius's youngest daughter waiting in the hotel room when they arrived, there at her father's request to drag Tim back to Gotham. She was obviously completely ignorant of just what the Wayne family got up to after hours, despite her father being all too aware.

He and Pru passed her back and forth as they battled the ninja Ra's sent swarming into the room, and while Tam Fox was not unskilled, it was all too clear that she was in way over her head. With people like Lucius to look up to, it was no wonder Bruce's parenting tactics were far from optimal.

It was enough to make a guy think.

* * *

"Hey, it's me. I know it's been a while, but I was wondering—is your offer still open? I've got some stuff to take care of in Gotham, but after that… I think I'm ready."

* * *

They didn't manage to leave Ra's al Ghul behind.

Tim found himself cornered in an office. A window at his back, a sword-wielding psychopath coming at him and—

He was back in Gotham, but no longer Robin. He wasn't sure if he was even part of Batman's brood anymore, if he even wanted to be.

Thoughts were whizzing through his mind and there were things he wanted, things he wished for—

But wishes never got anyone anywhere, and Bruce wasn't back quite yet. Not to mention the man currently running around the city as Batman had slightly different priorities than his predecessor.

Ra's was coming at him, he had to make a split-second decision, and while he might have chosen differently just a few short months ago, he knew what he had to do now.

Tim screamed.

* * *

Bruce came back.

* * *

Bruce came back, completely ignorant of everything Tim went through in order to make it happen. He came back and right away started asking for more—more work, more lies, more time. More years of Tim's life.

"I don't know if I'm ready to return for good just yet. There are some things I need to see to, and it would be easier to do that while I'm not exactly back yet, officially." Bruce said it like it was the most logical thing ever.

It wasn't. It didn't make sense at all. Between Hush pretending to be him out of the mask and Dick continuing his legacy in it, it wasn't like Bruce had ever actually been _gone_. Except to the people that mattered most. To his friends and colleagues. His family.

"You do you," Tim said, pulling off Red Robin's cowl and handing it to him. "But you'll have to do it without me."

"What?"

"I realized some things, while you were gone," Tim explained as he began pulling off the rest of the suit. "Things about myself. Things about you."

"You're quitting?"

"Yes. No. Maybe?" Tim shrugged as he pulled off the last piece, then began replacing it all with regular, comfortable clothes. His clothes. "All this time I've been following your rules, thinking they made me something stronger, something better. Took you being gone for me to understand that all they were really doing was holding me back."

"Tim… I don't understand."

"There comes a time when every bird has to fly free of the nest and find its own song." Tim slipped on his shoes, picked up his pack. "I'll see you around, Bruce."

* * *

Dinah met him at the manor gates with a fast bike and an extra helmet.

This time, he didn't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> It's important to me that people know the only reason Jack died when he did in this AU is that he had laryngitis at the time. Otherwise Boomerang woulda never seen what hit him. >.>
> 
> [I have a tumblr!](http://themandylion.tumblr.com/) Come visit if you want ridiculous AU headcanons, history fangirling, adorable baby bats, and veeeeery occasional fanart. Also, because I am an actual human being with opinions of my own, sometimes I post or reblog things that reflect those opinions. If you can't handle the idea of someone existing in the universe and possessing opinions which differ from your own, you should not click that link.


End file.
